Appreciable quantities of unwanted moisture are commonly included with a variety of bulk mineral cargos, resulting in such undesirable effects as reduction in fuel value, caking, lumping, and freeze-adherence to the metal walls of both storage and transport bins in the wintertime. In the past, dewatering of the mineral product has been undertaken in an effort to alleviate these problems; and both chemical and mechanical means have been employed for this purpose. In addition, various release agents have been proposed heretofore for spraying or otherwise applying onto the inside walls of empty railroad cars and the like in an effort to prevent coal and kindred products from freezing to these surfaces during subsequent sub-zero shipment and thereafter presenting difficulties in unloading.
The prior art freeze-adherence suppression agents, however, have proved capable of only partially reducing the amount of force required to free a coal or like product which had frozen within its conveyance.